


At The Edge of The World

by AifasInTheSky



Series: (See You) On The Other Side [1]
Category: HLVRAI - Fandom, Half-Life VR but the AI is Self-Aware - Fandom
Genre: (or at least near it), Almost everyone is mentioned, End of the World, Gen, Tommy Coolatta as G-Man's son
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-19
Updated: 2020-07-19
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:01:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25387210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AifasInTheSky/pseuds/AifasInTheSky
Summary: Tommy learns about his true nature, and decides to do something about it.
Relationships: Tommy Coolatta & The G-Man
Series: (See You) On The Other Side [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1839427
Comments: 7
Kudos: 113





	At The Edge of The World

Tommy Coolatta can’t get Dr. Coomer’s words out of his head.

_There’s nothing out there._

At the moment, he didn’t think much of it. Space is empty, right? That’s what he must’ve meant. But after the clone fight with Mr. Freeman and Coomer’s revelation, he started to think. Think.

Think.

There’s someone who has to know.

“Mr. G-Man… Dad,” he asks at his birthday party, while everyone’s busy dancing and eating pizza.

His father looks at him, face impassive as always but a fond shine in his eyes.

“Yes, son?”

“Is this world real?”

Mr. G-Man’s eyes widen almost imperceptibly, only to become unreadable afterwards.

“I wouldn’t worry too much, son.” He crosses his arms behind his back. “This world is about to end anyways.”

Tommy’s stomach drops. “Wh-what?”

His father sighs. “I’m sorry. I wouldn’t have told you. But I promised not to hide anything from you again. Not about this. Not about your duties.”

“My… my duties?”

“We exist,” Mr. G-Man says. “We’ll keep existing, after this. We carry the power… to mold this world with our own hands. But all things must come to an end.”

“No…” Tommy steps back. “I…” He looks at his hands, sees—sees _code_ , running all over them, inside them. Everything is code. His friends are code. He suddenly can understand every single datum that composes what surrounds him.

He closes his eyes, overwhelmed. When he opens them, everything’s back to normal. But it’ll never be the same.

“Your friends… Most of them know more than they should. Not about us, of course. But about the nature of this world.”

He gasps. “Dr. Coomer—”

“Dr. Coomer’s involvement with Black Mesa’s cloning research has made him… more aware than what’s healthy for a simple string of code.”

“D-don’t call him that!”

“… I apologize,” Mr. G-Man says, insincerely.

“But… Mr. Freeman’s different, isn’t he?”

“Only in a single aspect. He is… a channeler. Someone that’s not from this world lends him voice and motion and conscience. But he’s still, essentially, part of this world.”

“Oh…” He looks at where Mr. Freeman is sitting, looking morosely at his slice of pizza. That’s why Dr. Coomer had wanted to escape through him. You’re truly special, Mr. Freeman.

“Don’t think it too much,” his father says. “Soon enough, it’ll be the end.”

Tommy thinks of his friends. Of all the good times they spent together. Of Dr. Bubby’s wish to see the stars. Of Dr. Coomer’s suffering. Of the pain and sadness he felt when he had to destroy one of his best friends, though he now knows— _feels_ —that he’s still in there, somewhere.

Of the day he created Sunkist, without really thinking too much about how it was possible for a simple human to create something so _perfect_.

He clenches his fist.

“What if I don’t want it to end?”

Mr. G-Man sighs. “I cannot keep this world running for longer, son.”

“And if I were to create a new one?” A new world, where everyone can live without thinking about limits. A new world, where Sunkist can run in many parks. Where Darnold can live a peaceful life.Where Dr. Bubby can watch the sky to his heart’s content. Where Dr. Coomer and Mr. Freeman can be free of their own consciences. Where Benrey is back with all of them.

Where everyone can be free.

His father, surprisingly, gives him an unnerving grin.

“I was hoping you would… suggest something of the sort.”

Now Tommy’s confused. “… Huh?”

“I am not fond of staring at the void for a millennia, son. However, my powers only come so far. It is time… for you to do what you were always meant to do.”

… What he was always meant to do?

He doesn’t want this knowledge. He doesn’t want to be an outsider to his friends’ happiness. He wants to be with them, to ignore everyone’s true nature. Especially his.

He knows he can fix at least one of those things.

“I’ll live with them.” He tells his father. Undeterred by his frown, he says, “I’ll live with them and watch over the world from _inside_ it, and it’ll be a perfect world, like Sunkist is. I’ll make sure of it.”

“We’re not… made to mingle.”

“Well, I am,” Tommy says, to both their surprises. He gulps, looking apologetically at Mr. G-Man. “I’m their friend.”

Mr. G-Man sighs. “Do as you want… son.”

Tommy grins, and claps. “Thank you, dad!” he says enthusiastically, running off to the bathroom.

He doesn’t know how much time he has for the end of the world. But he has to put his mind to the task, now, and quickly.

In a bathroom stall at a Chuck E. Cheese’s, Tommy Coolatta imagines the perfect world.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, last one and I'll stop throwing Half-Life fics at you, I promise. I haven't written so much in so little time in ages!
> 
> Tommy can and will create the perfect world, thank you very much.
> 
> Also there's some--uhh... meta? I dunno if that's it--about the characters, especially Gordon.
> 
> Thank you very much for reading! ♥


End file.
